A Clinton-Colbert Name-Dropping Contest

Hillary Clinton with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report on Tuesday. The appearance was a rare instance in which Mrs. Clinton was not asked about whether she intends to run for president.

By David S. Joachim

Aug. 6, 2014

WASHINGTON — If Hillary Rodham Clinton decides to sit out of the 2016 presidential race, she may have a future as a sketch comic.

Mrs. Clinton made a surprise appearance on “The Colbert Report” on Tuesday night in which she faux-sparred with the show’s faux ultraconservative host over who had more famous faux-friends.

It started when the host, Stephen Colbert, played audiobook clips of Mrs. Clinton reading from her memoir, “Hard Choices,” in which she recalled her interactions with world leaders like Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda of Tanzania.

“This book is 656 pages of shameless name-dropping,” Mr. Colbert said. “I just don’t buy any of this,” he added. “There is no way on earth that one woman can be in so many places at once.”

Enter Mrs. Clinton, stage right.

“Hillary Clinton!” Mr. Colbert said with faux surprise, after faux-scolding his audience for chanting “Hillary! Hillary!”

“Oh really? Name-dropper?” Mr. Colbert said, starting a name-dropping back and forth. “That’s not what my good friend Tom Hanks calls me when we’re hanging out at George Clooney’s place.”

“I love George. I wish he could have joined us when I had lunch with Meryl Streep and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.”

“Oh Rafi, he is such a cutup. Especially when we go camping with Oprah.”

“O.”

“Oh, does that surprise you?”

“No, O is just what all her real friends call Oprah.”

Mrs. Clinton has been barnstorming the country and the talk-show circuit to promote her memoir, which focuses on her years as secretary of state. The book has had sales of about 207,000 copies in the United States, according to to Neilsen BookScan. But it has been overtaken on The New York Times best-seller list by a sensational account of the Clintons, written by Edward Klein, their longtime antagonist.

The “interview” with Mr. Colbert on Comedy Central was a rare instance in which Mrs. Clinton was not asked about whether she intends to run for president. A few weeks ago, in a scheduled appearance on “The Daily Show,” she played along with Jon Stewart’s questions about what shape she would like her next office to be.

Mr. Colbert has participated in events put on by Clinton Global Initiative.